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Spirits, Squares and Shooting Movies in Savannah: A Conversation with Screenwriter Chad Darnell

J. Cindy Hill

Georgia native filmmaker Chad Darnell first came to Savannah nearly two decades ago, researching the topic of spirits and hauntings for a production for Turner Broadcasting.

He went on to cast movies and television series in Atlanta, Savannah and in Los Angeles, which is where he met a young producer, Megan Murphy, who was moving to Savannah to work for Medient, a new studio that would be based here. Darnell had written a feature film script set in his "favorite city in the world" and suggested she read it to get familiar with her new town.

Cut to 10 months later: During Georgia's "snowpocalypse" of January 2014, Murphy calls to ask if his script is still available because Medient wants it to be the first film they produce in Savannah.

With production set to begin next month, Darnell sat down to talk about how he has come full circle from someone standing at the gates of Bonaventure Cemetery asking about ghosts, to returning to town with his first big feature film production about the spirits and spirit of Savannah.